Replication information for Greene, Hetherington, Maxwell, and Ryan, �Public Service Announcements and Promoting Face Masks During the Covid-19 Pandemic�

Files:

- Files ending in .gph and .png are Stata graphics files used to produce figures. (See ps_replication.do)
- ps_replication: Main Stata do file to produce all analyses
- psa_experiment.dta: Data file for the PSA experiment (Study 2)
- readme.txt: This file you are reading now.
- wral.dta: Data file for the WRAL observational study (Study 1)


Variables in psa_experiment.dta:

- startdate_w3: Timestamp for respondent beginning the survey.
- enddate_w3: Timestamp for respondent ending the survey.
- responseid_w3: Unique respondent identifier
- race_w3: Respondent's race. Value labels are included in the dataset.
- edu_w3: Respondent's level of education. Value labels are included in the dataset.
- mas_import_w3: Respondent's agreement with the statement, "Wearing a face covering over your mouth and nose (a face mask) when you are in public is important to stop the spread of the coronavirus." (High values indicate greater agreement.)
- mask_contract_w3: Respondent's answer to the question, "How effective do you think masks are at lowering the chances that you will contract the coronavirus from another person?" (High values indicate greater perceived effectiveness.)
- mask_spread_w3: Respondent's answer to the question, "How effective do you think masks are at lowering the chances that you will spread the coronavirus to another person?" (High values indicate greater perceived effectiveness.)
- w3flag: Indicator variable for respondent completing the instrument used in this study.
- shelton: Indicator variable for exposure to the Shelton advertisement.
- generic: Indicator variable for exposure to the generic advertisement.
- psa3c: Factor variable for treatment assignment. Value labels included in the dataset.
- Respondent's partisanship. Value labels included in the dataset.
- scicom: Respondent's confidence in the scientific community. Value labels included in the dataset.
- medcom: Respondent's confidence in the medical community. Value labels included in the dataset.
- milcom: Respondent's confidence in the military. Value labels included in the dataset.
- covid_threat3: Respondent's perceived threat from coronavirus, separated into three categories. Value labels included in the dataset. See appendix for break points.
- age_bin: respondent's age (four categories). Value labels included in the dataset.
- female: Respondent's gender (male = 0, female = 1, non-binary = 3)
- mask_sum: Average of the three mask variables described above.


Variables in wral.dta:

- startdate: Timestamp for respondent beginning the survey.
- enddate: Timestamp for respondent ending the survey.
- responseid: Unique respondent identifier
- race: Respondent's race. Value labels are included in the dataset.
- edu: Respondent's level of education. Value labels are included in the dataset.
- income: Respondent's income, scaled from 0 to 1 (see appendix for values).
- mask: Respondent's agreement with the statement, "Wearing a face covering over your mouth and nose (a face mask) when you are in public is important to stop the spread of the coronavirus." (Higher values indicate greater agreement.)
- mask_prevent_self: Respondent's answer to the question, "How effective do you think masks are at lowering the chances that you will contract the coronavirus from another person?" (Higher values indicate greater perceived effectiveness.)
- mask_spread: Respondent's answer to the question, "How effective do you think masks are at lowering the chances that you will spread the coronavirus to another person?" (Higher values indicate greater perceived effectiveness.)
- mask_behavior: Respondent's answer to the question, "How often do you wear a mask outside the home in situations where you cannot always maintain appropriate distance?" (Higher values indicate more mask usage.)
- mask_sum: Average of the mask, mask_prevent_self, and mask_spread variables.
- variables ending in _s: Dichotomized version of the _t variables described below. Respondents are coded at 0 if they did not recall seeing the relevant PSA, and 1 if they did recall seeing it (irrespective of how many times they might have seen it).
- pid3c: Respondent's partisanship. 0 = Democrat, 1 = Independent, 2 = Republican
- wral, fox, cbs, abc: Variables reporting how often the respondent watches local newscasts on each network. See appendix for question wording. Higher values indicate greater watching frequency.
- variables ending in _t: Respondent's recollection of how many times they saw a particular PSA (including the two decoy PSAs). See appendix for question wording. Higher values indicate greater frequency.
= age_reg: age variable used in regressions. Higher values indicate older respondents. Respondents with missing age have mean-replaced values. (.513 for Republicans, .424 for non-Republicans.)
- agemean: Indicator variable marking respondents with mean-replaced ages.
- agebin: Age categories. Value labels included in the dataset.
- female: Respondent's gender. 0 = male, 1 = female.